After Migos brawl, Albany Armory to surrender liquor license

Nine months after stabbings, venue looks to make changes

By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

Updated 9:29 pm, Monday, November 30, 2015

Albany

The management of the Washington Avenue Armory is poised to surrender the troubled concert venue's liquor license — nine months after a melee at a Migos rap show left six stabbed and prompted a state and city crackdown.

After the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball League folded in 2009, armory management increasingly turned to concerts and electronic dance parties to make money to pay the overhead associated with operating the massive 19th-century building, which was redeveloped a decade ago for sports and concerts.

Those events, drawing up to 4,300 people, fueled complaints about rowdy crowds from residents around nearby Lark Street.

The armory will continue to host wrestling matches and roller derby bouts — and the door remains open to future concerts other than hip-hop and electronic dance music, Bonilla said. But the owner, Albany Basketball & Sports Corp., is actively looking for new tenants with new visions.

"Right now, they're looking for a long-term tenant for the space other than entertainment," Bonilla said. "Every other use other than concerts" — including the potential for offices — "is what the road is looking like." In the meantime, the hope is that lifting the nuisance order will make it possible for organizers of one-off events like an annual cigar show to obtain temporary liquor licenses, Bonilla said.

City Corporation Counsel John Reilly said city officials have been considering whether any modifications of the nuisance order are warranted and plan to discuss the issue with stakeholders in the neighborhood.

The Migos brawl was only the most recent confrontation between the venue and the city. Code enforcement officials temporarily blocked the armory from hosting electronic dance parties in the wake of an October 2012 fight outside one of the events injured three police officers and resulted in seven arrests.

But the armory sued and ultimately won the right to continue hosting general-admission events after a state appeals court ruled that the city's Board of Zoning Appeals had narrowly defined the term auditorium in a way that was "irrational and unreasonable."

2014-15 school budget year, according to data compiled by the Empire Center, which looked at records kept by the state's Teachers Retirement System. It was 32,179 during the 2008-'09 year.

Most of the top earners in the Capital Region are superintendents.

The figures also counted severance payments for those about to retire and they were recorded before pension contributions were taken out. Those contributions range from zero to 6 percent, depending on when an employee was hired. Contributions are capped at $179,000.

The Capital Region's top earner was Shenendehowa Superintendent Oliver Robinson at $219,260, followed by Albany's Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard at $197,527, North Colonie's Daniel Corr at $196,477, Schenectady's Laurence Spring at $195,145 and Guilderland's Marie Wiles at $185,498, according to the data.

Statewide, the top earner was Joyce Bisso, who retired in June from the Hewlett-Woodmere, Long Island, district at $625,215. Retirement pay often includes accruals for unused sick time and other incentives. The Empire Center, which is nonpartisan but fiscally conservative, offered no opinions on the pay levels.

They believe the public needs to know how its tax dollars are being spent.

"Schools account for the biggest share of local property tax bills across New York," Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center, said in a prepared statement.

"Posting the salaries of educational professionals helps taxpayers understand where the money is going, and to whom."

Cuomo early in his tenure criticized what he characterized as excessive superintendent pay in some school districts.

"I understand that they sometimes have to manage budgets, and sometimes the budgets are difficult," he said in 2011. "But why they get paid more than the governor of the state I really don't understand."

Cuomo earns $179,000.

Bob Lowry, deputy director of the state Council of School Superintendents, noted that his members have received average raises of 1 percent per year since 2008-09, when the recession was starting to take hold.

The average increase for the 2015-16 year was 1.7 percent, he said.

And during the 2012-13 year some superintendents accepted freezes to help save money and set an example.

This school year, for 2015-16, the average was 1.7 percent, which conformed with the state's property tax cap.

"I think superintendents tried to show leadership,'' he said.

Shenendehowa spokeswoman Kelly DeFeciani said Robinson oversees the region's largest district. Shenendehowa is also known for its high academic performance.

"Dr. Robinson is in his 11th year at Shenendehowa. He is one of the most veteran superintendents in the area with 15 years of superintendent experience,'' she said in a prepared statement.

"He is superintendent of the largest school district in the area with more than 9,800 students and 1,800 staff members.''

John Wiktorko, superintendent at the 316-student Windham-Ashland-Jewett district in Greene County, earned $183,684.

And Kathleen Farrell, who heads the 1,547-student Catskill district in Greene County, was listed at $182,652.

Wiktorko said that his base salary is $163,000 and the extra represents unused leave time, such as untaken vacations or sick leave, a standard arrangement in school and other public sector contracts.

"It's a phenomenal district,'' he added. The district has received high rankings for it graduation and college attendance rate.

The average pay for education professionals statewide, 236,563 people, was $61,233, according to the Empire Center.

But that average might be skewed downward, said Empire Center spokesman Ken Girardin, since 38,549 members reported less than $5,000 in pay.

For more, go to Capitol Confidential or the Empire Center's SeeThroughNY website.